Hiring Commission-Only Sales Reps For The Holiday Season

It’s Q4, and you suddenly think, “Shoot!” we need more sales reps to keep up with the seasonal demand.?

But with only 92 days in Q4, a 30-day recruiting and onboarding process, and reps taking around 26 days off per quarter, you’re just left with 36 days. You start to think, “What’s the point?” and risk missing out while your competitors get ahead.?

That could be you. However, you found this guide. This post will teach you how to hire commission-only sales reps for the holiday season quickly and effectively.?

Step 1: Have a Product or Service That SELLS?

The foundation of a successful commission-only sales rep hire lies in having a product or service that ACTUALLY sells.?

You can’t sell ice to an Eskimo. It’s a myth. There needs to be a market and demand for what you’re selling.?

It’s even the 2nd most popular reason why most startups fail - there’s no market for the goods you’re trying to shift.?

So before you do any hiring, Q1, Q2, Q3, or Q4, have a product or service that has a positive selling history.?

This won’t only help sales reps when they join your team, but it’ll also help attract them.

Step 2: Set Attractive Compensation Rates?

We’re already in Q4, so speed is of the essence. You need a compensation package that’ll attract people quickly.?

Simply put, the more money you can compensate sales reps (compared to your competitors), the more they’ll flock to you.?

In general, we recommend an average 7-day sales cycle on a product or service with a $1,000 commission rate. With this rate, commission-only sales reps can earn approximately $52,000 a year.?

However, there are only 13 weeks in Q4. In these 13 weeks, you have several key shopping periods: Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's.?

Because of this, you may want to offer bonuses for hitting targets for these shopping days. Individual or group targets would work well.?

Doing this just adds that “little bit extra” to the compensation package, which will undoubtedly attract more quality sales reps.

Step 3: Create a Candidate Profile?

Not all sales reps are the same. Like me and you, they’re different.?

Though they are all sales reps, some specialize in retail and e-commerce while others in B2B services and specialized goods.?

Therefore, understand who you want to hire. Create a candidate profile that outlines your ideal candidate for your busy Q4 period.?

• Define their Q4 targets?
• Define their experience levels in your industry/product/service?
• Define their skill set?
• Define their traits?
• Define their cultural fit?

The more you define, the better. You’ll be able to find someone who truly fits into your holiday season plan as well as someone who meets your specific recruiting criteria.

Step 4: Leverage Multiple Recruitment Channels?

With your candidate profile and compensation plan, use multiple recruitment channels to find your ideal Q4 sales reps.?

More is better in this instance. You need sales reps to join your team fast, so get your hiring opportunity out there to the masses.?

Nowadays, you have hundreds of options. However, we recommend that you stick to the following:

These seem to work the best, especially social recruiting, as 57% of job seekers use social media to find a job.

Step 5: Screen & Interview Quickly

On average, it takes around 34 days to fill a job vacancy. Q4, however, only has 92 days.?

If you’re in urgent need of a sales rep for Q4, you can’t take 34 days to find them. You need them, like, next week.?

Because of this, a screening and interview system that works quickly should be developed. It’ll help you filter through resumes and candidates until you find the ideal sales rep.?

Step 6: Simplify the Onboarding Process

Like with recruiting, the onboarding process should be quick. At the moment, most onboarding training takes around a week to a month.

If you’re hiring in Q4 for Q4, you can’t wait a week to a month. You need to get sales reps up to speed as soon as possible—a few days max.?

Therefore, create a simple onboarding process. Make it concentrated, effective, and purposeful so they’re able to get the right training fast.?

Step 7: Give Them Warm Leads?

Salespeople are salespeople. Leave them to what they’re best at - selling things. Don’t have salespeople performing lead generation, ongoing support, etc. Let them sell.?

Ideally, you should be providing them with at least 15 warm leads a week as a bare minimum. From the start of Q4 all the way to the end. More is better, but 15 is a good starting point for a commission rate of $1,000 per sale.?

Step 8: Monitor Performance?

Salespeople aren’t a set-it-and-forget-about-it tool. You need to monitor them, communicate with them, and work with them to improve and optimize performance.

When they’re new to the team, monitor them closely. They’ll have the most questions then. It’ll also help them start on the right foot.?

As you go through the Q4 weeks, catch up with them. See what they’re working on, talk about their successes, talk about their struggles, and so forth. You’ll likely uncover areas of improvement for them or your whole team.?

Conclusion?

If you’re hiring Q4 salespeople in Q4, you must recruit and onboard quickly.?

The most effective way to achieve this is by offering attractive compensation packages and simple yet effective recruiting and onboarding systems.?

Nail these two areas, and you’re off to the races. You’ll be able to attract ideal sales representatives for your business and have a successful Q4 selling period.?

If you need help finding the right commission-only sales representatives, contact us at Jayce Grayye Consulting & Recruiting. We’ve placed over 500 commission-only sales reps in companies that suit their skillset. Now if you are a business owner, appointment setter, closer or director level looking to leverage outbound marketing join our Cold2Sold Academy where we will be talking all things outbound and use coupon code EARLYBIRD to take advantage of the first month for $1.